Am I being too fussy about the neighbours?

nearlyrich

I have only lived in a house with solid 18" walls and a detached house as an adult so not had any noise problems, as a child we lived in a 1940's semi and it was possible to hear next doors especially if they raised their voices or turned their telly up loud.

PhilDS

ajbaker wrote:

I completely sympathise with you. I'm of the belief that I should not alter my behavior (ie turn on a radio, move the bed) as a result of a disturbance caused by my neighbour. However I also firmly believe he has the right to listen to his TV at a normal volume at any time. Sadly this often means I am awake at 1 in the morning listening to his TV!

I have just installed sound insulation as suggested here: http://www.soundstop.co.uk/
(Sound Stop refused to sell to me because the order was below £200 so I purchased all the bits from Travis Perkins for less than I would have paid Sound Stop).

I have yet to move back into the room so cannot testify to how affective it is... Having said that it has doubled the thickness of the dividing wall, and is really dense so it should make a big difference.

Can you identify how the noise frustrates you, and what type of noise it is. For me I could get to sleep if the TV was on but if I could make out just one word then I had no chance - I naturally try to listen.

Do you know where your neighbours TV is? Is it against the dividing wall between their house and yours? If so, this is most likely the problem. Could you perhaps see if they would be willing to move the TV?

And as to your question about being fussy - if it annoys you, then no, you are not being fussy!

You've described my situation exactly :T I would be really interested in how the sound insulation does. Also, I'd be really interested in how much it cost, how much disturbance for the work, etc. I've had a look at the sounstop website and I reckon it'll cost around £40 /square metre. That makes it about £800 for us...it works it would be worth it.

Re the TV position, it is facing the party wall so I guess that's the best position for it (ie not next to the wall).

tomstickland

It's a funny thing because once you are aware of the annoyance then it annoys you even more. So a TV that you wouldn't notice annoys you once and then from then on you constantly think "can I hear that noise?".

Noise, noise, noise, it's really hard to sort once you're having trouble.

Personally I hate the sound of TV and also car radios. It's muffled nonsense. People gibbering rubbish to a braid dead audience.
Sound proofing and your own low level sound is the answer.

PhilDS

I agree totally. Hopefully ajbaker will have a good review of the sound proofing!

mrs_baggins

I am really sorry to hear about your problem. I have read all the other posts and can sympathise with you. My sons house is so bad I can hear the neighbours coughing! Can I just add a few words though. I worked for some time in local authority investigating noise complaints, installing noise monitoring equipment and all sorts. Some of the time things could be sorted but most of the time they couldnt. usually it was a combination of very bad home insulation and also peoples expectations. A lot of the people I went to see were sitting in their homes with no tv, radio or anything on and it got to the stage on some where it just ruled their lives, the slightest bit of noise and they would be complaining. Now I am not saying you should put up with unreasonable noise but sadly you will hear general 'living noises' purely due to the construction of the houses but its difficult to not dwell on the noise and then you could get to the stage where you are waiting for the noise to happen and then you could end up being unhappy.I have spoken to my colleague who is a bit of a noise expert and he tells me that although sound proofing could make a very small difference the noise could actually be travelling through the floors or anywhere. When my son was at home I used to march up the stairs to complain about his music but when i got there it wasnt loud its just that he liked the really bass type of music and the tone of this and where it is in the noise spectrum causes it to be more annoying than if the music was actually louder than it was. Not explained it very well but I hope you get the idea!!!

helen81_2

handyman. wrote:

cant understand flipping at these things, at the first problem, it could have been sorted..........and i'd rather have some noise for a while, with people adding value to their house.

Hi,

I totally agree with this. Myself and my family recently moved into a semi that needed (still needs!) alot of 'doing up' so Iguess we have been making a rather lot of noise!! But, we have spoken to the neighbours on the joinned on side and there fine with it,guess they understand that there is bound to be some noise and that it won't be forever. We NEVER make loud noises too early in morning or after tea. We had an old back boiler that was very firmly cemented into chimney breast wall...took a total of 5 hours (not continous!) with a pnematic chisel to remove it :eek:

We felt so bad sbout the racket we were making and kept popping round to apologise. Think they were more annoyed with us for keep going round to say sorry more than the noise we were making lol. We took them a bottle of wine round when we had done.

Helen x

DuncanMiller

try living in a ground floor flat where the people above decided to rent out their flat and fitted "cheap" laminate flooring in the room above our bedroom. Since that day we can now hear every foot step, tv above a modest level and more annoyingly when things are dropped etc...

as made for some very sleepless nights and early wake ups (can even hear their phone vibrating on the floor when it rings/alarm goes off.)

Though the last tenant just moved out and the new one is a bit quieter!

PhilDS

mrs_baggins wrote:

I am really sorry to hear about your problem. I have read all the other posts and can sympathise with you. My sons house is so bad I can hear the neighbours coughing! Can I just add a few words though. I worked for some time in local authority investigating noise complaints, installing noise monitoring equipment and all sorts. Some of the time things could be sorted but most of the time they couldnt. usually it was a combination of very bad home insulation and also peoples expectations. A lot of the people I went to see were sitting in their homes with no tv, radio or anything on and it got to the stage on some where it just ruled their lives, the slightest bit of noise and they would be complaining. Now I am not saying you should put up with unreasonable noise but sadly you will hear general 'living noises' purely due to the construction of the houses but its difficult to not dwell on the noise and then you could get to the stage where you are waiting for the noise to happen and then you could end up being unhappy.I have spoken to my colleague who is a bit of a noise expert and he tells me that although sound proofing could make a very small difference the noise could actually be travelling through the floors or anywhere. When my son was at home I used to march up the stairs to complain about his music but when i got there it wasnt loud its just that he liked the really bass type of music and the tone of this and where it is in the noise spectrum causes it to be more annoying than if the music was actually louder than it was. Not explained it very well but I hope you get the idea!!!

I think if I do go down the soundproofing route I'll have to get a specialist in to to an assessment and give us a quote. Does anyone here have experience with soundproofing at all?

tawnyowls

DuncanMiller wrote:

try living in a ground floor flat where the people above decided to rent out their flat and fitted "cheap" laminate flooring in the room above our bedroom. Since that day we can now hear every foot step, tv above a modest level and more annoyingly when things are dropped etc...

as made for some very sleepless nights and early wake ups (can even hear their phone vibrating on the floor when it rings/alarm goes off.)

Though the last tenant just moved out and the new one is a bit quieter!

Perhaps you should check the terms of the lease and complain if they're not allowed to have laminate?

Dead_Eye_Jones

interesting topic. My neighbour plays the guitar from time to time, mostly it isnt a problem, but sometimes its amped and shakes through the whole house, other times its quiet but late, after 11.30 so it does stand out. I'll prob mention it if I bump into them, I just want to make sure they are aware, who knows they maybe horrified to learn they are causing this problem.

But what can I do, is it reasonable to suggest someone resists their musical passion? But surely people need to be aware that living in a semi requires consideration? Id like to get my decks out and break out some techo records but ive kept them in the folks place as ive lived in flats etc for the last few years. Maybe Im too considerate? Personally I think you have to accept that living with shared walls requires sacrifice of noisy activities (;))

Be careful not to get into an escalating noise war, I got caught in one of these in a flat a few years back. Some really nasty people went as far as putting on CDs on repeat and going out for the night, some people have serious personality disorders. This was done in revenge against the people above who played their TV too loud, of course all the surrounding flats were affected too. I guess in a semi at least its only two households that end up miserable! They moved out a few weeks after the peak, evicted I hope!